IAMC Weekly News Digest, 28th May 2021
Modi’s Religious Nationalism Hurts India’s Hindus, Too – By Sunita Viswanath
Photo: Foreign Policy
…. the current Indian government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has come to power on a dangerous lie that they have been selling to India’s Hindus: that in a country where they make up 80 percent of the population, Hinduism is under threat – and will only prosper if they support the ideology of Hindutva, or Hindu nationalism…. Chain reactions sparked by Hindutva ideologies have claimed the lives of innocent people – a Muslim lynched on the suspicion that he eats beef, a Hindu woman who suffered a miscarriage while imprisoned for marrying a Muslim man, an 8-year-old Muslim girl raped and killed in a Hindu temple, and countless others. The lie has transformed nearly every aspect of Indian society beyond recognition…. Hindus are taught to see the divine in everyone they encounter. This radically inclusive philosophy is diametrically opposed to Hindutva. By allowing Hindutva ideology to become so entrenched in our communities, in religious and social spaces as well as in politics, we have suffered a loss even deeper than the material losses: We have betrayed our faith itself.
Designate India as ‘Country of Particular Concern’, impose ‘targeted’ sanctions, religious freedom panel tells US govt
Photo: RNS by Adelle M. Banks
United States Commission on International Religious Freedom has called on the US government to designate India as a ‘country of particular concern’ and impose sanctions on individuals responsible for violation of religious freedom in the country. In its 2021 report, the USCIRF talked about the CAA, anti-conversion or love jihad law, disinformation and incitement of violence targeting minority communities and attempts aimed at closing space for civil society through FCRA and other laws. “The government, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), promoted Hindu nationalist policies resulting in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom…. The commission has recommended certain measures for the US government….
Lakshadweep: 8 BJP youth wing members resign, say administrator is destroying peace and tranquillity
Photo: Twitter
Eight members of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s youth wing in Lakshadweep have resigned in protest against administrator Praful Khoda Patel’s “undemocratic actions”…. Patel has introduced a slew of regulations in the first five months of his tenure, triggering a massive outcry on social media. This includes a proposed cow slaughter ban, a preventive detention law in the Union Territory with one of the lowest crime rates in the country and a draft law proposing sweeping changes in land development regulations. Patel, who had served as Gujarat home minister and is known to be close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, is carrying out the political agenda of the BJP to target Lakshadweep’s largely Muslim population, the Opposition leaders have alleged….
Communal Harmony
Hindu woman doctor in Kerala recites Islamic prayer to sinking Covid patient
Mosque in Bengaluru opens Covid Care
Muslim Group Performs Last Rites of Covid Victims of Other Faiths in Tamil Nadu
News
Vegetable Seller Faisal Killed in Unnao After Policemen Thrash
Twitter Calls on Indian Government to Respect Free
Lakshadweep: 8 BJP youth wing members resign, say administrator is destroying peace and tranquillity
Indian activists languish in jail despite soaring Covid rates
‘New Laws Will Decimate Rural Communities’: US Farmers Express Support for Indian Protest
Ramdev Should Be Booked Under Sedition Charges: IMA in Letter to PM
‘Why no FIR’: Karnataka HC pulls up Belagavi top cop for violations at Amit Shah’s January rally
‘Tortured by police in jail, forced to drink inmate’s urine’, Karnataka Dalit youth alleges
Opinion
Modi’s Religious Nationalism Hurts India’s Hindus, Too – By Sunita Viswanath
In India, Suppressing Dissent Can’t Suppress COVID – By Reena Shah
Central Vista: Does Indian PM Narendra Modi really need a new house? – By Geeta Pandey
Maliana-Meerut Carnage: 34 Years of Injustice – By Qurban Ali
Why Does a 10-Day-Old Twitter Thread Look So Much Like the ‘Toolkit’? – By Pratik Sinha
